Showrooms

Atocha Shipwreck 4 Reale Grade 2 Mexico Mint Coin

Offered by: Assay Jewelry

Description
Original Atocha Coin 4 Reale Grade 2 Mexico Mint Unmounted #85A-159726. Complete with the original Mel Fisher signed certificate from Treasure Salvors INC.

4 Reale Denomination growing increasingly rare: Most of the coins on board the Atocha were of the 8 Reale denomination. Due to their smaller size, 2 and 4 Reale coins didn't survive the shipwreck as well as the larger 8 Reale coins did.

Less than 4% of the coins recovered from Atocha we struck at the Mexico City mint, as most were minted in Potosi, Peru (Modern-Day Bolivia), where most of the Spanish crown's silver shipped through the Spanish Main landed.

Atocha Coin
- Grade: Grade 2
- Denomination: 4 Reale
- Reign: King Philip III of Spain
- Mint: M (Mexico City)
- Assayer: Not Visible
- Weight: 9.50 Grams
- Date: Not Visible
- Origin: #4165
- Coin Metal: Silver
- Bezel Metal: Proprietary, non-tarnishing sterling silver
- Front-Side: Greek Cross
- Reverse-Side: The shield of King Philip III of Spain

In Person Observation:

- The Coin has a thin planchet and darker color character. The obverse has a deepening on the cross from a strong striking of the mint. The reverse bears a visible shield with slight fading on the exterior.

Atocha History:

On September 6th, 1622, a ship named "Nuestra Señora de Atocha" (Our Woman of Spring) from the Kingdom of Spain bearing gold, gems, and other valuables to The New World capsized off the coast of Key West in Florida, sinking the treasure for hundreds of years.

This all changed in 1969 when a team of scuba divers led by American treasure hunter Mel Fisher began searching the seabeds in the Florida Keys for the missing treasure. After an arduous expedition, a radio call went out from Fisher's son, Kane Fisher, who jubilantly exclaimed that the team had finally found the Spanish treasure.

Amid the priceless discovery, the State of Florida's government claimed title to the shipwreck, thus commencing a legal battle that would last eight years. On 1 July 1982, the US Supreme Court ruled in favor of Fisher's team and awarded it the rights to the entirety of the shipwrecked treasure.

In 2014, Nuestra Señora de Atocha was added to the Guinness Book of World Records for being the most valuable shipwreck to be recovered, as it was carrying roughly 40 tons of gold and silver and 71 lb worth of Colombian emeralds, among other artifacts.